Time trial specialist takes first win in Europe
Svein Tuft (Garmin-Transitions) won the stage 5 time trial of the Tour of Denmark, completing the 19.4km course in 23’20. The Canadian time trial champion beat Australian Richie Porte (Saxo Bank) by just 37 hundredths of a second, and Dane Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) by 4 seconds.
The first time of note to be posted was that of Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator). The 23-year-old Belgian completed the course in 24’22” to set the standard early on. His time stood for less than 10 minutes though, as Jason McCartney (RadioShack) went 2 seconds faster.
McCartney’s time was to stand for rather longer than De Gendt’s, but was eventually beaten by Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil), who lowered the best time by a further 4 seconds to 24’16”. Mouris’ Vacansoleil teammate Lieuwe Westra eclipsed his time almost immediately though, taking 41 seconds off his time to lower it to 23’35”.
Giro d’Italia white jersey winner Porte flew around the course 40 minutes later to set a seemingly unbeatable time of 23’20”. One of the last to start though, Tuft managed to go fractionally quicker.
Fuglsang finished 4 seconds slower than the Canadian but with yellow jersey Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) losing almost 2 minutes, as expected, Fuglsang moved into the race lead. The Dane now looks odds on to take his third successive Tour of Denmark, with only Tuft having any kind of chance to catch him.
Result stage 5
1. Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Transitions 23’20”
2. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
3. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank @ 4s
4. Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil @15s
5. Hayden Roulston (NZl) HTC-Columbia @ 38s
6. Patrick Gretsch (Ger) HTC-Columbia @ 39s
7. Alexander Wetterhall (Swe) Cervélo TestTeam @ 44s
8. Jesse Sergent (NZl) Team RadioShack @ 50s
9. Michael Mørkøv (Den) Team Saxo Bank @ 51s
10. Jens Mouris (Ned) Vacansoleil @ 56s
Standings after stage 5
1. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank
2. Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Transitions @ 27s
3. Matthew Busche (USA) Team RadioShack @ 1’35”
4. Martin Mortensen (Den) Vacansoleil 1’38”
5. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) HTC-Columbia @ 1’45”